Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/669

BASUTOLAND. and an annual contribution from Cape Colony. The revenue and expenditure for 1000 amounted to £69,769 and £39,492 respectively. Kdueation is well advanced, and is carried on almost exclu- sively by missionaries.

The population of the colony is estimated at about 260,000, and consists almost entirely of Basutos, a Eantu people, composed of several coalcscent tribes, short in stature, regular in features, and. with thinner lips than the Kaffirs, whom they vesemble. They have advanced re- markably through the efl'orts of French mission- aries, and are becoming a civilized Christian na- tion, taking up readily modern ideas. Their lan- guage was reduced to writing by missionaries, and forms a considerable literature. The capital of the colony is Maseru, with a population of about 900. Basutoland was established a sepa- rate State at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. The first collision between the Basutos and Great Britain occurred in 1852 and resulted in the defeat of the former. In 1856 a boundary dispute arose between the Basutos and Orange Free State, which was continued for about two years without any results. In 1866 a part of Basutoland was ceded to the Orange Free State, whose authority was recognized by the Basutos. But this settlement did not mark the termination of hostilities, which still cnntinied for several years. As the result of an appeal from the Basu- tos to Great Britain, Basutoland was annexed to Cape Colony in 1871. For the next twelve years the colony was in an almost uninterrupted state of rebellion and chaos, which culminated in its separating from Cape Colony in 1884 : since then it has been administered as a separate col- ony. Consult: Mrs. Barkley, Among Boris and Ba.iutos (London, 1900) ; Lagden, "Basutoland and the Basutos," in Colonial Institute Journal, Vol. XXXIl. (London, 1901); Bryce, Impres- sions of South Africa (London, 1899) ; Widdi- conibe. Fourteen Years in Basutoland (London, 1892).

BAT (Fr. Mt, OF. hast, pack-saddle). A British army term, originally the name of a kind of pack-saddle, used on foreign service, for the transpoit of baggage, etc. A hat-horse is an animal carrying such a pack, and the soldier or man in charge would be termed a hat-man. By a modification of meaning bat-man was used to denote a soldier allowed to act as servant to an officer. At the present time, the term 'bat-man' is applied only to the soldier responsible for the care and cleanliness of the clothing, arms, and equipment of a warrant, stafT, or regimental non- commissioned officer. The money received for such service, whch is paid by the interested non- commissioned officer, is termed bat-money. The former connnissioned officers' bat-man is now known as soldier-servant.

BAT (OE. back, halke ; ef. Swed. natt-hakka, niglit-jar, Dan. affenbakke, evening-bat, Icel. lepr-blaka, leather-flapper, from blaka, flap, flut- ter). A small, furry mammal of the order Cheiroptera, having membranous wings, and al- most exclusively aerial in its habits. The power of flight, which exceeds that of birds or insects, is the distinguishing feature of these animals, which otherwise resemble the Inscctivora in most respects; and their whole organization has been modified toward its perfection and the pursuit of an aerial life. Most of them are of small size. though a few reach the bigness of a large rat, and have a spread of wings measuring five feet. Stkucture. The vertebral column is short and compact, the thorax capacious, to make room for the proportionatelj' very large heart and lungs, and the breast-bone (which is keeled like that of birds) and slioulder-girdle are very large and strong to aff'ord attachment to the great muscles operating the wings; while the pelvic girdle is small and weak. Reversing the rule among mammals, the fore-limbs are developed vastly in excess of the hind ones, whic;h, although provided with perfectly formed feet, are practically useless for locomotion on the ground, though of service in climbing, and particularly in clinging to some support, from which the creature hangs head down when at rest — its customary attitude of repose. The bones of the limbs are permeated by medullary canals so large as to make them prac- tically hollow; other bones are light and slender, and the ribs much flattened.

Wings. — The modifications of the limbs with reference to flight are very great (see illustra- tion). The shoulder-bones (clavicle and scapula)

SKELETON OIA BAT'S WING. s, scapula; b, humerus; ur, ulna-radius: c, carpus', (wrist-bones); t, thumb; zu, metacarpal bones; d, digita (Augers).

are much enlarged and strengthened. The lui- merus (h), though long, is scarcely two-thirds as long as the forearm, where the radius {ur) is so lengthened that in some species it is as long as the head and body together (the ulna is rudi- mentarj' and firmly soldered to the radius) ; the wrist or carpal bones (c) are compact, and more or less soldered together at the radial joint; the metacarpals (»!, equivalents of the bones of the "back' of the human hand) are prolonged to lengths varying in the difl'erent families, but ahvays equaling or exceeding the length of the body, and terminate in fingers ( d ) consisting of a varying number of phalanges. An exception to this, however, is made by the thumb (t), which is very short, free from the wing-membrane, and terminated by a strong claw greatly used liy the animal in climl)ing or hold- ing on to a support. Thus the length of the arm and hand may be 15 or 20 times as great as the breadth of the shoulder.

The position of the bones is changed, so that while ability for a rotatory motion is lost, greater power for an up-and-down (antero-posterior) motion is gained. The hind-limbs are also lengthened in the leg-bones ; but here the notable change is in the lateral position and spread gained through a twisting outward so extensive that the knee is directed backward instead of forward. Upon this light, strong framework, moved and controlled by powerful pectoral muscles, is stretched a flexible, leathery, nearly hairless membrane (patagium), which is double, and is really an extension of the skin. It envelops all the bones of thf arm and linnd, and